Flasks (Project 15 - Spring 2013)

[orchidsarefun]

Originally Posted by Island Girl

Does anyone know how big Phals need to be before deflasking? 2 inches is what I heard on catts and the like, I believe that's correct... Is it the same for Phals?

well the grower shouldn't be selling a flask that's not ready for replating ? If they send you one that is not ready and you deflask, and they all then die, I believe you can ask for a replacement flask.
A complication to be aware of is that phals produce a poison/phenol that will kill them off if they are left in a flask too long.

[Call_Me_Bob]

I would think that a good vendor would only sell flasks that have already been replated with seedlings inside that are at least close to being ready for deflasking. I say this because my lab won't even give me the flasks until after the replate.

Sorry you had trouble with Carmela's! I just got a very large order from them, and they didn't give me any trouble at all.

[escualida]

I just want to say that I've bought a few times from Carmela's and even after this little snafoo I think they're great and I would buy from again. They're very responsive and I know that she had the best intentions when she sent me the plugs instead of the flask, I mean, they sent me like 30 plugs of the same cross that had easily been out of the flask for a year which normally is considered better than the same amount of tiny little flasklings. And when I let her know that I needed a flask she tried to replace it and sent a new one ASAP to try to correct the mistake. And then when that didn't work out she refunded me the cost of the flask anyway and didn't ask me to send the plants or flask back so I have a bunch of free plants in the end.

I've had TERRIBLE experiences with a lot of sellers as of late and I have to say that all in all I still really like Carmela's.

[Rowangreen]

Sounds like Carmela's are guilty of being TOO helpful. LOL. Mistakes like that and I'd be very tempted to order and hope for one!

Finally starting on some pics...

1) October's batch of flasks. They've been sitting in the set up without the top on for months now, so time to move out! I have more pics of them if it become relevant!

2) A pic of my phal ambioenses flask: I don't seem to have taken one of the entire flask unfortunately, but those roots go up a bit more....

3) A blurry pic of the 'brain fungus' growing in the flask: the yellow lump. Looks like it's been co-existing happily for a while and didn't grow any in the 4 or so days I had it.

4) That is unless you blame it for eating all the medium... not a lot left and a flying plant! Roots have green tips at least...

5) Den cyanocentrum flask. Few dead leaves but totally spotless otherwise! Excited to get this one out: the plants are tiny but it looks like they may have several canes each. Impossible to tell how many are in there!

[Rowangreen]

1) Phals after about half an hour untangling those roots!

2) A closer view of the larger plants. I did trim off a fair amount of dead root and unidentified black stuff (might of been a mix of dead plant and dried up medium!), I think some had been done and some still to be done in these pics?

3) The compots. Whoever wrote those nice guides to lining them up neatly didn't have plants like mine... I put the 4 biggest in one pot: roots wrapped round the pot and each other! In fact I had to get them in and standing reasonably upright with no media then dribble in my hand-chopped moss! The flying plant is still sideways and flying a bit! The smaller pot has 5 plants: some monster roots, but also a couple of tiny plants with tiny roots.

And a week later....

4) Blue mold spots. I've got more this time than last time. Don't know if it's because the flask was contaminated or because I used fert in the moss this time, which I didn't last. Anyway, trying not to worry... blue might mean it's penicillin mold, in which case it might kill some bacteria! There is one spot visible on a root: last time that happened on a paph root that later died off (though the plant is still healthy, and I think that root was damaged anyway). Hopefully all will be well this time.

5-6) Couple of pictures of the littlest seedling. One thing I'm trying to show is the little fine hair-like strands almost like spider web. I believe these are actually fungal growth. They are actually all over, not just around this tiny plant. Again I got this last time and all went well so I'm not panicking.

I did have a question with this whether I kept the phals in high humidity till the dens come out then harden them together, or use a different strategy to work out them being at different stages. I had hoped to keep the phals damp (especially since the flask wasn't in a great state, so I hoped to give them that extra care), but it looks like I have to get things a bit dryer in there to stop the fungal growth becoming a problem... I find the vents on my propogator don't make a lot of difference to the humidity, so I just take the top off for an increasing amount of time each day. At the moment I'm trying to do about 15 minutes twice a day, going down to about 80% according to the meter.

[Rowangreen]

It's probably bad to be quoting myself, but I thought I'd re-post what I posted before about de-flasking, so it's together with the pictures....

Originally Posted by Rowangreen

My phal ambioensis flask from Writhlington School was pretty desparate to be unflasked! Great long roots (some going up to the top of a tall flask...), hardly any medium left. There were also some fungus growing, though they seemed to be co-existing fine with the plants!

In preperation I washed pots, propagator and tools first with dishwash, then with 10% bleach solution (not stronger as I've heard it can desicate rather than kill nasties if it's stronger). I also damped down and microwaved some moss. After microwaving I added a bit more de-ionised water with some fert in.

Opened the flask and let it soak in some room temp water for a while, then eased the plants out. It tooks quite a while to get those long roots sorted out! Lucky that phal roots are quite resilient (the paphs I deflasked in October I found had brittle roots... whoops!). Also removed some dead roots and leaves. Didn't use any kind of wash on the seedlings except plain water.

I've ended up with 9 plants of various sizes, with the smallest being pretty microscopic. I don't have facilities to re-plate those, so giving them a go... They are now in two compots in a propogator without heating, over a bed of leca with water in. Running about 20-23 degrees c at the moment and 100% humidity. Looking ok so far.

[bballr4567]

Jarad,

Just got the flask. So, first thing first, thanks.

However, it got f'd up in shipping and its not your fault, it was packed great. I cant even see the seedlings because the media is everywhere. It looks like the box went to hell and back. Im assuming Im going to have to deflask immediately when I get some time tonight. Should I just rinse off the seedlings to get off the media and go from there?

[zxyqu]

Dang. Knew i shouldve packe them a little. But if the media is everywhere not much I could've done. Oh well. Yeah, just pop open the flask and rinse them off with some lukewarm water, much like you'd do for any other flask. Should wash right off. As long as the roots didn't get jostled too much, these should be ready to pot up, as I selected a few I'd pot up and that's what I sent. Good luck, and let's see them when thy are ready. Here's hoping they are just fine!

[bballr4567]

Im still soaking my media but I'll have some pics later tonight.

[bballr4567]

Well, got them all in a compot. I think I will end up losing 2 or them. One had almost all its leaves broke off, 2-3 of its roots and Im pretty sure the meristem was broke. The other was left pretty rootless and has a few tiny ones left.


I ended up using a small tuperware dish and then stuck a ziplock bag over it and cut a tiny slit in it for very small air circulation. These seedlings are rather large so Im sure I wont be able to kill them that fast.